Art Therapy (Pediatric)

Art therapy is part of the collaborative care intervention that children receive in the Pediatric Care Unit at National Jewish Health. The Art Therapy program was established in 1983 and continues to be offered as an integral part of patients' evaluation and treatment.

How It Helps

Art therapy is particularly effective with children as they have a natural propensity toward creating. Art therapists strive to better understand the child's perspective on living with a chronic illness, to help him or her to express feelings that may be difficult to verbalize and to foster effective coping skills, all through the metaphor of art.

Our Program

Many families with children and/or adolescents have come to the National Jewish Health Pediatric Day Program for evaluation and treatment of severe pulmonary, allergic, dermatological or immune disorders. As a part of our Behavioral Health Services included in the Day Program, art therapy groups are offered for patients ages 5 years and older.

Group therapy at National Jewish Health offers patients the opportunity to meet and spend time with other kids who may be having similar experiences and feelings associated with living with a chronic illness and with being hospitalized. Children's artwork often reveals feelings about their illnesses such as fear, anger, sadness, hopelessness and anxiety. Group therapy is a forum where children and adolescents feel welcome to explore and discuss fears and anxieties. When feelings like these are expressed and identified, a sense of relief and control often follows.

Clinical Trials

For more than 100 years, National Jewish Health has been committed to finding new treatments and cures for diseases. Search our clinical trials.

Reasons to Visit National Jewish Health

The leading respiratory hospital in the nation and the only one devoted fully to the treatment of respiratory and related illnesses

Ranked as one of the top two hospitals in pulmonology every year since U.S. News & World Report included this category in its annual “Best Hospitals” survey

Ranked in the top 1 percent of hospitals in the nation by HCAHPS

Physicians frequently recognized as among the best in the nation by multiple services, including Best Doctors in America and Castle Connolly

Among the top 8 percent of organizations funded for research by the NIH, providing patients access to the latest clinical trials

120 -year history of focus on care, research and education serving thousands of patients with lung, heart, immune and related disorders

Natalie Sublet suffered smoke inhalation that injured her lungs during a house fire in 2016. The specialized care available at National Jewish Health for chronically ill children allows the first-grader to attend school with peers, rather than being taught at home by a tutor. Her mother, Angie, is grateful to the school for providing Natalie a quality education and a sense of normalcy.